Plenty of excitement, some skilful football, but in an inverse ratio, rain-soaked errors, three sendings-off and a refereeing performance which put one Cork official in mind of early pantomime bookings were the chief incidents as the home side progressed to the Church & General NFL quarter-finals with a deserved win over Dublin at Pairc Ui Rinn yesterday.
"Very disappointing," was Dublin manager Tom Carr's glum verdict. "We came to win and had enough possession but got only two points in the first half. We couldn't get scores."
His immediate disappointment was tempered by the news that the dice had tumbled the right way in Armagh and that Dublin would be joining Cork in the play-offs. There was, however, an intrusion of long-term concern.
Left wing back Paul Croft was sent off in the last minute of the match for what referee Aidan Mangan signalled as kicking. If that is reflected in Mr Mangan's report, Croft will pick up a three-month suspension and miss the start of the championship.
There was much unhappiness with the referee and it transcended allegiances. Cork manager Larry Tompkins refused to comment on the referee beyond questioning a decision to award Dessie Farrell a point which Cork disputed angrily as being wide.
"Games like this can be decided by a point," he said. "That shot looked about two feet wide."
Carr was more blunt about the refereeing. "I just don't know," he said. "I'm mystified. Every day I come in and don't know what to say to the players. That was a different game of football to the one Paddy Russell refereed two weeks ago."
Complaints about the referee centred on inconsistencies in the awarding of frees. In fairness to him, none of the three dismissals were disputable. Cork's right corner back Michael O'Donovan might have earned his marching orders for relatively harmless offences, but two bookings and the referee has no choice.
O'Donovan's second bookable offence was spotted by an umpire in the 37th minute and off he went. Ciaran Whelan suffered a similar fate nine minutes later when receiving a second booking.
For most of the match, Cork's defence was solid. The arrival of Jason Sherlock as a substitute did cause some tightening of local nerves as he threatened to get in behind the hitherto excellent Sean O hAilpin - completing an exhausting but fruitful weekend a day after the hurlers had beaten Waterford in dramatic circumstances.
Owen Sexton played very well on Declan Darcy and kept Dublin's marksman-in-chief against Galway scoreless. On either side of him, Ciaran O'Sullivan and Martin Cronin completed an excellent half-back line.
Centrefield competed well and a couple of good catches were made despite the wet and slippery conditions which at times turned the match into a farce.
Up front, the big impact was made by Mark O'Sullivan and Joe Kavanagh. O'Sullivan seems to find playing Dublin to his taste and although he scored only one point, he was integrally involved in the team's most dangerous attacks, won possession almost unhindered and after a frustrating first half, made his presence felt in terms of setting up scores for Kavanagh.
After a dull first half-hour at the end of which Cork led 0-3 to 0-2, there was a feeling that the home team might regret some of their more astonishing wides. Instead they came out after the interval all guns blazing and extended the lead with a couple of sweeping moves leading to points.
Finally, as the score moved to 0-2 to 0-6, Dublin responded with a three-point burst and going into the final quarter, with Cork down to 14, looked to have decisive momentum.
Having pulled level with Farrell's dubious point in the 50th minute, Dublin should have been in command, even if they had now lost Whelan. Sherlock and fellow substitute Brendan O'Brien lent some menace to the attack and Brian Stynes and Enda Sheehy were digging out possession in the centre.
There was also a psychological turning point when goalkeeper David Byrne was penalised for overcarrying as he raced out of goal just after making a timely interception. The free was a formality for Kavanagh who added two more points with the assistance of Mark O'Sullivan.
Searching for consolation afterwards, Carr singled out the contribution of Shane Ryan - "he showed leadership" - who played well after moving from full back to the corner. He was fatalistic about Croft's act of lunacy which will probably rule him out until the end of June.
"He will suffer personally," said the manager. "He had made a place on the team his own and he has lost it as and from today."
CORK: K O'Dwyer; M O'Donovan, S O hAilpin, A Lynch; C O'Sullivan (0-1), O Sexton, M Cronin (0- 1); M O'Sullivan, L Honohan; A Dorgan (0-1), A O'Regan, P O'Mahony (0-2, one free); P Cliffford (0-1, a free), J Kavanagh (0-3, one free), M O'Sullivan (0-1). Subs: N Murphy for O'Mahony (44 mins); BJ O'Sullivan for Dorgan (55 mins); F Collins for Honohan (60 mins).
DUBLIN: D Byrne; P Moran, S Ryan, P Christie; T Lynch, I Robertson, P Croft; C Whelan (0-2), E Sheehy; P Ward, D Darcy (0-3, all frees), B Stynes; N O'Donoghue (0-1), D Farrell (0-1), M O'Keeffe. Subs: J Sherlock for O'Keeffe (33 mins); B O'Brien for Ward (41 mins).
Referee: A Mangan (Kerry).
